MARTINA MANZANO 1r Batx B (1)

A sustainable school built with waste

Summary:

In Jaureguiberry, Uruguay, there is a school that can be considered 100% ecological. It is self-sustainable and built of waste, and it can accommodate 100 students. It took four years to get the permits but only 45 days to build it by using tires, glass and plastic bottles, cans, wood, glass and cement. The temperature is perfect without using heating or cooling and the water used in the toilets is from de rain. In addition, once a week the children pick up the fruits and vegetables they have planted, they cook them and then eat them in the school canteen.

Link:

http://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20170915/431296170184/escuela-sustentable-uruguay-residuos-michael-reynols.html

Publication date:

15/09/2017

Scientific field:

Ecology.

Glossary:

Septic tanks: a tank, typically underground, that collects wastewater and decomposes it through bacterial activity.

Can: a small steel or aluminium container in which food or drink is hermetically sealed for storage over long periods.

Waste: unwanted or unusable material, substances, or by-products.

Analysis comment:

This article explains how can a school work perfectly being self-sustainable and completely ecological. The school which I’m talking about is in Jaureguiberry, Uruguay, and it was built with 2,000 tires, 3,000 glass bottles, 1,500 plastic bottles and 12,000 cans, along with the necessary wood, glass and cement.

The students learning how to cultivate

On the one hand, the project is amazing because it is quite cheap (it is estimated to have cost less than 350,000 euros) and environmentally friendly, so it is a very good idea due to we really need to take care of our planet.

On the other hand, the only problem that I see is that children can be so worried about planting, watering and cooking the fruits and vegetables that they may leave the studies behind. Teachers are pretty busy with these tasks too, so it could impair their school performance.

To conclude, I think that schools like this one should be build more. We are destroying The Earth spreading pollution through our industry, our overpopulation, our insecticides… So, in my opinion, it is great that projects like this school in Uruguay are published in the newspapers, so people start being conscious of what is happening in our planet and start doing something to change it.

The school façade